2010 NotTwo Records release from Joe McPhee (sax) and Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (bass).
Joe McPhee and Ingebrigt Haker Flaten
Blue Chicago Blues
Label: NotTwo, 2010
Catalogue No: MW 841-2
Format: CD
Tracks:
1. Truth In The Abstract Blues [06:23]
2. Cerulean Mood Swing [06:36]
3. Requiem For An Empty Heart [08:29]
4. I Love You Too Little Baby [04:04]
5. The Shape Of Blues To Come [09:25]
6. Legend Of The Three Blind Moose [07:03]
Line-up:
Joe McPhee - sax
Ingebrigt Haker Flate - bass
Recorded:
at Vivians Palace in Chicago by Amus Scattergood on December 3rd, 2007
Review:
Joe McPhee has already released several duets with bassists, including
several with Dominic Duval and Michael Bisio. He had played with bassist
Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten in "The Thing". Now McPhee plays this nice album, an
almost complementary album to his duet with Pal Nilssen-Love, "Tomorrow Came
Today".
For the occasional reader: I am a great fan of McPhee, and hence easily
enthusiastic about any of his releases, and so it is with this one. I also like
duo performances. So, McPhee in a duo album has a great probability for a great
appreciation.
He brings nothing new here though, nor does Håker-Flaten, but the playing itself
is so good, so expressive, that it is a worthwhile listen for the fans. The
cover art with its ambiguous blue flame illustrates the music quite well, it is
both heart-warming music to listen to next to the fireplace, but it can only be
seen as a warning sign for highly flammable and explosive stuff.
The more explorative pieces are "I Love You Too, Little Baby", "Cerulean Mood
Swing" and "The Shape Of Blues To Come".
The sad and bluesy pieces are "Requiem For An Empty Heart", in which McPhee
sings while playing his sax, after a long slow bass intro by Håker-Flaten, and
"Legend Of The Three Blind Moose", a slow spiritual improvisation, offering a
great finale for the album.
The first track, "Truth In The Abstract Blues" has a rhythmic repetitive phrase,
reminiscent to the Fred Anderson, the great Chicago sax player, to whom this
album is dedicated.
But the music is fun too, as the titles of the tracks already indicate, with
their references to some of the great bluesy tracks of jazz history.
"This is blue Chicago blues,
nasty, low-down, trifflin',
and,
sweet"
Enjoy!
(review courtesy of stef and freejazz-stef.blogspot)
Manufacturer: NotTwo Records
SKU: MW841